Ordinary handtrucks suffer from a common problem relating to the removal of cargo once the handtruck has reached its destination. In particular, when it is desired to remove cargo from a handtruck, the cargo must somehow be lifted or slipped off of the handtruck base plate. In the case of heavy cargo, the frictional forces between the cargo and the base plate will in some cases cause difficulty in sliding the cargo off the plate. When this occurs a second worker may be required to lift or slide the cargo away from the handtruck to release the base plate and allow the handtruck to be removed from beneath the cargo. Even when a second worker is not necessary to remove the cargo, the handtruck must commonly be rocked from side to side to allow its base plate to slide out from beneath the cargo. This slows the unloading operation and creates additional work for the handtruck user.
Where cargo is light in weight, a problem may also arise in its removal from the handtruck. This can occur where the cargo is not heavy enough to allow the portion of the cargo extending beyond the base plate to generate adequate frictional force against the ground to cause the cargo to remain stationary while the handtruck base plate is pulled out from underneath. In such cases the cargo must be manually lifted or pushed off of the handtruck.
In addition, ordinary handtrucks suffer from a common problem which arises when it is desired to place cargo directly adjacent to a wall. In order to remove the handtruck from beneath cargo, the top portion of the handtruck is commonly angled inwardly toward the cargo while being pulled away to assist cargo in sliding off the handtruck base. However, in order to angle the handtruck in this manner, the cargo cannot be placed directly adjacent to the wall because the top portion of tall cargo will prevent the handtruck from being angled toward the wall. Thus, it is necessary to have space between the wall and the cargo to allow the handtruck to be tilted forward and removed.
The prior art in handtruck unloader mechanisms has included various mechanisms adopted to solve the above stated problems. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,355,941 and 3,844,431. However, these mechanisms typically only provide means to push cargo off the handtruck base plate. A significant effort is required to push the cargo off the base plate. In addition, the prior art in some cases has involved complex pusher mechanisms which necessarily increase the cost to manufacture such handtrucks.
The present invention is designed to alleviate the problems found in handtrucks of the prior art and provides a handtruck capable of efficiently unloading cargo in the precise location desired without adding undue expense to its manufacture.